Elevator door



July 20,1926. 1,593,138

R. s. PEELLE ELEVATOR noon Filed Oct. 26, 1920 I -1 .L 1; A A l v ammm 9% (71/0331?? Patented July 20, 1926.

warren starts ATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT S. PEELLE, OF HOLLIS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE PEELLE COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELEVATOR DOOR.

Application filed October 26, 1920. Serial No. 419,712.

My invention relates to elevator doors, and more particularly to a weather shield applicable to vertically slidable doors closing a street opening in an elevator shaft, or an opening otherwise so positioned as to be exposed to the elements. I

Elevator doors of the character to which my invention relates include therein a downwardly slidable section mounted upon the wall of the elevator shaft closely adjacent the door opening closed thereby. Such doors cannot be closely fitted to the opening by means of storm joints or raised sills as with swinging or horizontally movable doors, so that when the door is in the closed position, there has heretofore always been an exposed gap between the sill of the door opening and the frame of the lower section of the door through which rain or snow might drive when the door is in a position to be exposed to the weather.

To obviate the above condition, I provide a downwardly movable section of a vertically movable elevator door with a weather plate carried by and movable with said door section, and so mounted thereon adjacent the lower frame bar thereof that, with the closing of the door, this plate will be automatically extended onto the sill of the door opening and span the gap between the sill and the door sections so as to prevent rain, snow, dust and dirt passing through this gap into the shaft or well. By so mounting the plate as to cause it to be inclined from the sill to the door section, the accun'iulation of water thereupon is prevented.

The manner of mounting the plate'with relation to the door is such that as the door is opened, its movement with relation to the sill will so actuate said plate as to cause it to pass between the door and the wall of the shaft below the sill, without interfering with the free movement of the door or requiring any especial attention to the plate.

offset with relation to its pivots, so that when the door is open, it is out of equilibrium, thus ensuring the automatic actuation of the plate with the closing of the door. In order to secure this condition as to the mounting of the plate, I pivot it, by means of an angular-1y offset portion which will permit the plate to be brought substan- Preferably I employ an oscillatory plate tially parallel with the panel of the door when the door is opened. The plate is mounted within the frame of the door section in a transversely extending pocket or recess when a metal sheathed wooden panel is employed, an astragal being provided adjacent the top of this recess or pocket to prevent rain, snow or other elements being driven into said pocket or recess above the plate.

The invention consists primarily in an elevator door embodying therein a vertically slidable panel having an angle metal frame and a closure within same mount-ed adjacent the wall of an elevator shaft, and a movable plate carried by said panel adjacent the bottom thereof Within said frame and above the bottom rail thereof and movable there with, said plate bein pivotally mounted in the side bars of said frame whereby when the panel is in the elevated or closed position, said plate will extend at an incline between the sill of'the door opening and said door panel, and substantially close the gap therebetween, and when the door is opened, will be disengaged from the sill and slide between the wall of the shaft and said door panel; and in such other novel features of construction and combination of parts as are hereinafter set forth and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

Referring to the drawings Fig. l is a horizontal section through a door embodying my invention and through the adjacent portion of the wall of the shaftadjacent the sill of the door opening;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a portion of the door adjacent the sill of the door opening upon an enlarged scale with the door in the closed position 5- and v Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the position of parts following the initial opening of the door. I

Like letters refer to like parts tl'iroughout the several views.

In the embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, I have illustrated it as being applied to a metal sheathed wooden paneled, angle iron frame, door section.

In the drawings, I have indicated the wall of the elevator shaft at A, the sill at the door opening being shown at a and the side walls of said opening at a and L The platform of the elevator car is shown at B in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Mounted upon suitable tracks or guides i; within the shaft adjacent the walls a and a respectively, is the door structure proper which may be of any desired construction of the vertically slidable type including a downwardly movable panel C. This door structure may consist of a single panel section, a plurality of oppositely movable sections having movement in the same vertical plane,-or a plurality of sections of the pass type of door, the construction of the door so far as the mechanism by which its open ing and closing is effected, being immaterial to the present invention, which relates more particularly to those details of construction by which the gap between the sill a and the door structure will be substantially closed to the elements when the door is in the closed position.

The section of door C shown in the drawings consists of an angle metal frame 0, the opening being closed by a metal sheathed wooden panel 0.

Said panel 0 has, adjacent the lower rail of the frame a, a transverse recess or pocket (Z extending from side rail to side rail of the frame 0. Mounted upon the inwardly projecting flange of each side rail of the frame 0 is a hinge bracket 0, the socket of which is exposed within the recess or pocket (Z.

Mounted upon the door panel C adjacent the lower rail of the frame 0 is an oscillatory weather plate 7 of a width substantially coincident with that of the door opening, sufficient clearance being allowed between the sides of said plate and the side walls a and a to permit the free actuation of said plate while preventing any substantial opening adjacent said side walls through which water might be driven. The plate 7" is of a width to project well onto the door sill a so that when the door is in the closed posi tion, it will extend from said sill to the door section C and thus span the gap between said door section and the adjacent edge of the sill.

Said plate f is carried by trunnion fittings 9 co-operating with the socket fittings 6 so as to permit a free oscillatory movement of said plate and bring its point of support well within the plane of the door.

In order to ensure theaut-omatic operation of theplate f, I so connect it with the fittings 9 that when the door is opened, said plate will be out of equlibrium, or so overbalanced that it will automatically assume the opened position as the elevator door approaches and comes to the closed position. Preferably, I secure this result by providing the plate 7 with an angular offset 7 of a length which will not only permit said plate to bereadily mounted upon the fittings g,

which in the form of the invention shown are shown as being angular so as to facilitate such mounting of the plate, but will so position the main body of the plate sufficiently away from its point of pivotal support as to permit it'to assume-a position in a plane substantially parallel with that of the sheathing of the door as the door is opened. The

extent of offset of the main body of said plate is determined by the relation of the the recess or pocket (Z, I close the upper part of said recess or pocket by means of an astragal it, the lower edge of which terminates below the upper edge of the offset f, without, however, projecting downwardly sutficiently to interfere with the free oscillatory movement of the plate To prevent any possibility of the plate 7 interfering with the free closing movement of the door, I provide the wall of the shaft A below the sill a with wear plates 2' which will prevent engagement ofthe edge of said plate f with the rough surfaces of the wall of the shaft.

Th fittings e are so positioned with rela tion to the bottom bar of the frame 0 that when the door is closed, the plate 7 will be sufficiently inclined from the sill a to the door section, to cause any water falling thereupon to flow away from the door, and not .be accumulated upon said plate.

The operation of the herein described elevator door is substantially as follows hen the elevator door is closed, the section C will be in the elevated position with the recess or pocket (Z located slightly above the plane of the sill a; and the free edge of the plate resting upon said sill, said plate being inclined as shown in Fig. 2.

lVhen the parts are in this position, no substantial volume of water, snow, dust or dirt can pass between the wall of the shaft adjacent the sill and the door panel C, since the plate 7 will span-the gap at this point for substantially the entire width of the sill, the inclined position of said plate, the barrier formed by the portion f and the astragal h preventing-any water flowing into the recess or pocket (Z, and from thence below the plate *lVith an opening movement of the door section 0, the plate f will, by reason of its Inn engagement with the sill a, turn upon its pivots until it has described substantially a 90 are, as the recess or pocket (Z passes be low the plane of the sill. The main body o f the plate is thus brought substantially parallel with the plane of the panel of the door section, and between it and the wall It below the sill a, and thereafter it slides readily with the door. The offset flange or por tion j" permits the main body of the plate to assume this position, and at the same time causes it to be out of balance so long as the door is opened, thus causing the plate to have a tendency to turn upon its pivots when with a return movement of the door, said plate passes above the sill a; and thus automatically come to a position spanning the gap between the door and the sill, upon the completion of such closing movement.

The wear plates 2' are merely for the pur pose of holding the plate f out of engagement with the rough surface of the wall of the shaft, so that there will be no tendency of the plate 7'' to interfere with the free movement. of the door while it is being closed.

The astragal it extends merely from the inturned flange of one side frame of the door to the inturned flange of the other, thus fording proper clearance for the trunnion fittings 9 adjacent said inturned flanges.

It is apparent that the details of construction of the weather shield of my invention will of necessity be varied with doors of different designs or different constructions, so that it is not my intention to limit the invention to its use with the specific construc tion of door shown in the drawings.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new anddesire to have protected by Letters Patent, is

An elevator door embodying therein a vertically slidable section mounted adjacent the Wall of an elevator shaft, consisting of an angle metal frame and a metal sheathed wooden panel closing the opening thereof, said panel adjacent and above the bottom thereof and of the bottom rail of said frame having a recess extending from one side bar of said frame to the other, a plate adapted to pass between the jambs of a door opening and rest upon the sill thereof, hinge brackets carried by the side bars of said frame with in said recess, said plate having an angularly offset portion, trunnion fittings carried by said offset portion and cooperating with said brackets,whereby said plate is pivotally supported out of equilibrium, so that said plate, when the panel is in the elevated or closed position,will automatically come to rest upon the sill of the door opening and extend at an incline across the gap between the door and the sill, and when the door is opened, will be disengaged from the sill and positioned between the wall of the shaft and said panel, and an astragal carried by said panel and projecting across the upper part of said recess.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature, this 28th day of September,

ROBERT S. PEELLE. 

